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Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2018 8:41 am
by abhijit
Chandragupta wrote:
Wed Mar 21, 2018 5:17 am
Do they celebrate Hindu festivals? Go to temples? Food etc are still okay if you can't cook but identity is very important. Kids must know & understand that they are Americans/whatever nationality but they are not Christian. They are American AND Hindu. Nothing wrong with these identities since they do not conflict.

Problem is when even recently migrated Hindus ditch their identity the moment they step foot on foreign soil. I have female friends who became fully Americanized within months of going to US, obviously a lot of fake & put on effort - like accent, dressing & in your face - trying too hard to be MUTU (they will celebrate St. Patricks Day, This day that day, everyday). I pointed female friends because this trait is negligible in males, as per my experience.
Festival celebration dilutes over the time if it is not linked to strong rituals. Xmas is, by visiting church, xmas carols etc. Some are religious rituals, some are traditional. For e. g. even though thanks giving is not religious still celebrated through some rituals. In that sense diwali, holi like festivals survive in NRI community through scale of the community around. I remember we played holi in such passion that locals came out just to video shoot us. It depends. But don't expect it to happen in huge scale when here in India there is systematic effort going on to curb hindu festivals.

Only those Have To kind of hindu rituals will survive, like hindu NRI will not suddenly start burying their deads.

By saying this, I need to emphasis that NRI migrated recently to the west are middleclass kids having less religious exposure. I don't have much hope there. But if you observe Indian community in Malaysia etc who were taken there 100 years back for rubber plantation are more hindus than us hindus and celebrate hindu festivals like ganesh chaturthi with passion.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:01 pm
by Primus
It is a bit hard to generalize although there is some truth in what is said above.

This past weekend I was visiting a classmate of mine in NJ. They live close to the Bridgewater Temple and his wife is very active there. You need to see the crowds that show up and how fast the complex has grown from a modest little thing to a full-fledged community center, complete with a brand new 8 million state of the art auditorium. The Ugadi festival this weekend was something else.

In our family we've always celebrated the major festivals with gusto. SHQ absolutely insists on lighting up the house for Diwali every year, we leave the lights on for weeks. The puja is always with friends and family. On Holi, when the kids were young we always had a great time with colored water, gulal and even the hard to get off colors on the face. We did this even with snow on the ground - running a hot water hose from the kitchen sink into the back yard.

A close friend and classmate is married to an Englishwoman. He prays every day, does Satyanarayana puja several times a year and of course the other festivals. On those occasions his neighbors who are American/Jewish all come and sit with us and participate including the 'aarti'. Then we all have prasaad. On Christmas he does have a tree and nativity stuff outside, but there is no church going. Both his boys have had their 'Upanayan' ceremony where his wife's entire family came over from England to celebrate.

OTOH, there are indeed those that drop their Indian or Hindu ethos like a wet blanket. These people would do the same even if they never left India, if they felt it was in their interest to do so, pleased their boss at work and gave their career a boost etc.

There are three things, IMHO that determine this behavior among Indians abroad:

1. Numbers: How many there are in a given area/town/country
2. Power/Clout: How much money and thus power they control
3. Prestige of home country: How well is India perceived on the world stage.

There are of course other factors - how united the diaspora is, how educated it is, etc.

In that sense, Modi Ji has done a tremendous job of uplifting India's image abroad. Look at how the Brits are lining up for Indian business.

Once the Indian influence reaches that of China, things will be quite different. See this report for example:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-41104634

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:20 pm
by shyamsp
Chandragupta wrote:
Wed Mar 21, 2018 5:17 am
Kids must know & understand that they are Americans/whatever nationality but they are not Christian. They are American AND Hindu. Nothing wrong with these identities since they do not conflict.
This is key. I've been raising my kids as Hindu Americans. They do many things "American" except those at odds with Hindu such as beef and interact with all identities without any confusion. For them India is Hindu land and history, temples, relatives, properties, and Modi not India as national entity. They know better Indian History than any Indians of equivalent age as they are not dumbed down by Islamic and Colonial history taught in India. Indian American identity can confuse people to become ABCDs.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:01 pm
by Primus
^ One really great book you might want to read and pass on to your kids is Sitaram Goel's excellent autobiography 'How I Became A Hindu'.

It is easily available online and of course from Amazon etc.

One of the concepts therein that I found especially useful is that of 'Pitrabhumi', 'Punyabhumi' and 'Karmabhumi'. Thus, India and its environs are our 'Pitrabhumi', the Sanatan Dharma is our 'Punyabhumi' and this wonderful land that sustains us now is our 'Karmabhumi'. We should be loyal to all three without conflict. It is not difficult to do so.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2018 4:37 am
by Shandilya
Chandragupta wrote:
Wed Mar 21, 2018 6:39 am
Shandilya wrote:
Wed Mar 21, 2018 5:55 am
Chandragupta wrote:
Wed Mar 21, 2018 5:17 am
Do they celebrate Hindu festivals? Go to temples? Food etc are still okay if you can't cook but identity is very important. Kids must know & understand that they are Americans/whatever nationality but they are not Christian. They are American AND Hindu. Nothing wrong with these identities since they do not conflict.
But sir over time these identities do conflict for those not firmly rooted, my cousin goes to temple and even cooks there (back home we are from as saffron a hindu as they come, not a shade lighter); she does so in an feeble attempt to latch on to her roots, but boy-o-boy you should see how she celebrates christmas - with a tree in the living room, lights outside, and gifts, parties, and the whole 9 yards; not as much (at all) at diwali, holi, navratri, gudi padwo. yes but she will visit the local desi shop for sale items on those days.
Perhaps it is inferiority complex & gora worshipping that are ingrained in us. I think this new 'wave' of feminism has its first victim in female Hindus. They see religious rituals & festivals as patriarchal and efforts to tie them down, so first thing a lot of them do when they go abroad is to go crazy with the new found 'freedom' & 'security', kick their culture, heritage, religion to the curb and ape gora log shamelessly. My male friends in US were stunned when they saw their female friends treat them so differently than they did back in India, compared to white guys.
Not in my cousins case, we come from a fairly elite and nationalistic background and our womens-log enjoy equal opportunity if not more in desh. To her credit she still follows the 3+1 days a month off kitchen duties for periods. But she may have turned uncle tom for her kids and in-laws pressure, and later found it convenient.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 12:33 pm
by kancha
sanjayC wrote:
Sat Dec 30, 2017 6:08 pm
^^ Modi Govt. needs to warn Twitter that if it takes sides in internal issues of countries and deliberately tries to suppress the voice of only one side, it can be blocked, like China has done.
Posted on twitter regarding the platform hiding 'sensitive' media by default.
Do have a look, and add on to it if you have anything more on it
Twitter Link

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 4:57 pm
by Indrad
will do whatever possible Harpreet ji ^^

In another development
MediaCrooks


@mediacrooks
Following Following @mediacrooks
More MediaCrooks Retweeted AND
Whatever the cost.. Whatever the time.. I have decided... 2019.. I want a Hindu Party and not @Bjp4India .. and i will work to do it...

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 5:21 am
by Hari Seldon
Anyone following the #BajrangiTwitter hashtag on twitter? heart-warming is the word. Go, explore, ensoi.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 7:27 am
by Hari Seldon
One screenshot says it all.... truth will find a way of getting out, I guess...

Image

Yay.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2018 5:59 am
by kancha
Folks, posted a thread on twitter on the Chinese peacekeepers running away under fire in South Sudan in July 2015. One of the few documented instances of the performance of the PLA in actual operations in recent past.
Do have a look

Twitter Link
Blog Link

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 3:46 am
by Kabir
^^ IMO the key to maintaining the bharatiya status quo with kids is to make them fluent in one or two Indian languages. If language is lost everything else is lost.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 3:47 am
by Kabir
Primus wrote:
Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:01 pm
One of the concepts therein that I found especially useful is that of 'Pitrabhumi', 'Punyabhumi' and 'Karmabhumi'. Thus, India and its environs are our 'Pitrabhumi', the Sanatan Dharma is our 'Punyabhumi' and this wonderful land that sustains us now is our 'Karmabhumi'. We should be loyal to all three without conflict. It is not difficult to do so.
Until US plays cricket against India :D

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 5:56 pm
by Primus
Kabir wrote:
Tue Apr 10, 2018 3:47 am
Primus wrote:
Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:01 pm
One of the concepts therein that I found especially useful is that of 'Pitrabhumi', 'Punyabhumi' and 'Karmabhumi'. Thus, India and its environs are our 'Pitrabhumi', the Sanatan Dharma is our 'Punyabhumi' and this wonderful land that sustains us now is our 'Karmabhumi'. We should be loyal to all three without conflict. It is not difficult to do so.
Until US plays cricket against India :D

Cricket is Cricket, after all :D

Seriously though, one needs to be loyal to the Karmabhumi first, that is a given for anybody who follows Dharma. Otherwise we are no different from the hordes of Jihadis who live in India or the UK and still indulge in terror against their own country. In that sense I fully support the likes of Karna from the Great Epic.

I do hope I am never tested on this.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2018 11:41 am
by Shandilya
Primus wrote:
Thu Apr 12, 2018 5:56 pm
Kabir wrote:
Tue Apr 10, 2018 3:47 am
Primus wrote:
Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:01 pm
One of the concepts therein that I found especially useful is that of 'Pitrabhumi', 'Punyabhumi' and 'Karmabhumi'. Thus, India and its environs are our 'Pitrabhumi', the Sanatan Dharma is our 'Punyabhumi' and this wonderful land that sustains us now is our 'Karmabhumi'. We should be loyal to all three without conflict. It is not difficult to do so.
Until US plays cricket against India :D

Cricket is Cricket, after all :D

Seriously though, one needs to be loyal to the Karmabhumi first, that is a given for anybody who follows Dharma. Otherwise we are no different from the hordes of Jihadis who live in India or the UK and still indulge in terror against their own country. In that sense I fully support the likes of Karna from the Great Epic.

I do hope I am never tested on this.
How do you intend to repay your reain (debt) to your pitrabhumi then? The soil which feed you and pal-pose kay bada kiya and made you capable enough to make your karmabhumi sat-samundar-par. Ideally, if you were born off this punya pitrabhumi you owe a (in your case a) son to it; you have the obligation to have him grow up here, if not more.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2018 5:46 pm
by Primus
Shandilya wrote:
Fri Apr 13, 2018 11:41 am
Primus wrote:
Thu Apr 12, 2018 5:56 pm
Kabir wrote:
Tue Apr 10, 2018 3:47 am

Until US plays cricket against India :D

Cricket is Cricket, after all :D

Seriously though, one needs to be loyal to the Karmabhumi first, that is a given for anybody who follows Dharma. Otherwise we are no different from the hordes of Jihadis who live in India or the UK and still indulge in terror against their own country. In that sense I fully support the likes of Karna from the Great Epic.

I do hope I am never tested on this.
How do you intend to repay your reain (debt) to your pitrabhumi then? The soil which feed you and pal-pose kay bada kiya and made you capable enough to make your karmabhumi sat-samundar-par. Ideally, if you were born off this punya pitrabhumi you owe a (in your case a) son to it; you have the obligation to have him grow up here, if not more.
Good question, and one that I've faced many times. It's a common refrain among those that believe that the ones who left India do nothing afterwards for the mother country and they owe a debt to the nation of their birth that they are never going to be able to repay, even if they wish to do so.

I don't know what the debt one owes should be. Someone calculated it once in a meeting and came up with a number, for school and professional education (eg Medicine, engineering etc) in India which we know is subsidized. I have paid several times that already in educating the poor in India. I don't need to outline here what else I have done for the 'pitrabhumi'. Is that enough? I don't know. There are things that one can never repay one's parents for, money aside. One can love them and take good care of them in their hour of need. I hope I have done that for India. Whether I should have my son grow up there is beyond my capacity to answer. You cannot ever equalize things that way.

I've lived longer outside India than in the land I was born in. hard to now go back, certainly not for good.

Let me ask you (or others here who perhaps share your opinion) a question. Say you are from a small village in Punjab, grew up there, etc. Then you move to Kolkata for a job and spend the rest of your life there, raise your kids there, earn lots of money. What debt would you say you owe to your poor village back in Punjab? How would you repay it? Would you then send your son to live there, knowing he has a better future in Kolkata. You might think that the village does not equate to India and Kolkata is not the US. in any case, it is all in India, so there is no difference. Well, the analogy does work, IMHO, not exactly 100% but it does. What benefit does the old village get from your making it rich in another city far away even if it is in the same country?

Ever since I left India I've been having these discussions, it is the topic of conversation whenever somebody comes over from India. We used to talk about this all the time in the initial years of our life abroad, but then as time passed and we all became completely immersed in a new life here, the topic came up less frequently, now only on forums like this or when family/friends are visiting from India.

Another topic that is still being debated hotly is India vs USA - in all walks of life. That one has been bashed to death but it refuses to stay dead.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2018 9:15 am
by Shandilya
Well, I have walked the talk and done gharwapsi from massa myself. I think the debt we are talking about is not limited to material things like subsidized education, rations, etc. which are peanuts in comparison to the fact that you are privileged to be born from the soil, air, and water of this punya bhumi; and thusly least you can do to repay is return in kind - give birth to a son/daughter in desh. once your child reaches adulthood its their call.

As for your Punjab village/Calcutta analogy. My ancestors migrated from a former super city to a new age super city 4 generations before me (both cities in India). Mind it this is opposed to me or you taking the onus to migrate from a to b; as the decision was taken by someone born way before me whom neither I nor my grandfather have ever met. But even today I personally pay two kinds of "Dharmadan" from my earned income annually. One portion goes to the dharti our ancestors belong to, and the other goes to the super city which my great great grandfather migrated to, both in same state.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2018 9:45 am
by Chandragupta
If you're living outside, I think the best you can do is to keep dharma & culture alive in your offsprings. And do some reverse love jehad.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2018 1:01 pm
by Primus
Shandilya wrote:
Sat Apr 14, 2018 9:15 am
Well, I have walked the talk and done gharwapsi from massa myself. I think the debt we are talking about is not limited to material things like subsidized education, rations, etc. which are peanuts in comparison to the fact that you are privileged to be born from the soil, air, and water of this punya bhumi; and thusly least you can do to repay is return in kind - give birth to a son/daughter in desh. once your child reaches adulthood its their call.

As for your Punjab village/Calcutta analogy. My ancestors migrated from a former super city to a new age super city 4 generations before me (both cities in India). Mind it this is opposed to me or you taking the onus to migrate from a to b; as the decision was taken by someone born way before me whom neither I nor my grandfather have ever met. But even today I personally pay two kinds of "Dharmadan" from my earned income annually. One portion goes to the dharti our ancestors belong to, and the other goes to the super city which my great great grandfather migrated to, both in same state.
Well, clearly you are a better man than I am.

In my experience - and I know quite a few who've done 'ghar wapsi' - those who return to India after working and living abroad have a difficult time adjusting to the situation back home, or at least their children/spouse do. Very few remain long term, the majority I know have either returned to the US, some after 7 yrs or more, OR they are in jobs that allow frequent trips abroad. One person I know makes a trip to the US every month (on business) and fills up his bags with Kellogg's cornflakes and other sundries. Even though all those things are now available in India nothing beats getting it directly from the US - so I've heard him say.

The other thing I've noticed is that the majority of those who go back 'for good' are those who were not able to fulfill their 'dreams' in the US, i.e. get a well paying job, have a career they always wanted, live in an area that is highly desirable and finally be able to get permanent residency here. Of course there are always exceptions, but that is the general pattern I've seen. This applies even to those who come from very rich families where they know their lifestyle in India will be better than the average punter. If you've spent 10 yrs or more making it work in the US and have finally gotten there, it is very difficult then to go back. Very few have done so PURELY for the love of India and if you have, I salute you.

FWIW, both my kids were indeed born in India, it was my desire for a better life that brought them to the US. I cannot now make them go back to the land they do not know. AND, I too have been paying several different kinds of 'Dharmadan', the larger portion of which goes to the 'Pitrabhumi'. As I said, I do not need to or wish to certify myself here in any way as to how I am 'paying back'.

There are sadly, very few people like you who care enough about the land they were born in, to pay back. I know so many rich Indians here who have never sent any money to any good cause in India other than their own family. This is particularly true of us Hindus. Which is probably a reflection of the larger malady that afflicts Dharma in general.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 5:08 am
by Shandilya
Primus wrote:
Sat Apr 14, 2018 1:01 pm
...Well, clearly you are a better man than I am....
Aaray nahi yaar, I am just a mamulee mango man; who enjoys deshi environment be it whatever good or bad, its mine. I am happy here. (doesn't mean I was unhappy in videsh)

When I left, I was an average munna (not a scientist or engineer) so not a loss to pitrabhumi in any way; but I felt like a betrayer when I relinquished Indian citizenship while taking up foreign citizenship.

We each have unique constrains, and maybe circumstances for gharwapsi were fertile in my case. I had wanted to comeback even before I left more than couple of decades ago. It's a given that most on this forum are deshbhakts a shade stronger than others, and indeed do the needful for pitrabhumi in whatever ways we can.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 1:41 pm
by Primus
Shandilya wrote:
Sun Apr 15, 2018 5:08 am
Primus wrote:
Sat Apr 14, 2018 1:01 pm
...Well, clearly you are a better man than I am....
Aaray nahi yaar, I am just a mamulee mango man; who enjoys deshi environment be it whatever good or bad, its mine. I am happy here. (doesn't mean I was unhappy in videsh)

When I left, I was an average munna (not a scientist or engineer) so not a loss to pitrabhumi in any way; but I felt like a betrayer when I relinquished Indian citizenship while taking up foreign citizenship.

We each have unique constrains, and maybe circumstances for gharwapsi were fertile in my case. I had wanted to comeback even before I left more than couple of decades ago. It's a given that most on this forum are deshbhakts a shade stronger than others, and indeed do the needful for pitrabhumi in whatever ways we can.
I am taking the liberty of copying this into the other thread about the cultural implications of living outside India that Ricky started. Seems more appropriate there. Replied there.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2018 6:03 pm
by Gus
I see that many of us are not following and RTing each other.

Please do that. If you see something good from one of us, do take that extra nanosec to RT.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 2:58 am
by Chandragupta
Let us please post our twitter handles here so it is easy to find and follow each other. I am @National1st

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 8:56 am
by Sachin
Effective usage of social media by terrorist groups to cause panic and even have a bandh/hartaal enforced. This model is tested out in Kerala (with decent level of success)
Hoax hartal: Police to probe role of extremist organizations...

In this bandh/hartaal without any political outfit driving the show, or without any leaders visibly taking responsibility in enforcing the strike, there were many events which targeted the business houses and worship places of the Hindu. Business establishments of "communist" Hindus too were not spared (which was kind of a good thing to have). On the positive side, this social media campaign have also exposed the "strong holds" of PFI and SDPI outfits in Kerala. They were much stronger in the Northern and two of the central districts in Kerala, but did not have much to show in the southern districts.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 10:23 am
by krisna
viewtopic.php?p=10247#p10247

article is from indiafacts.org - http://indiafacts.org/claim-the-narrati ... define-us/

please read the entire article and post in all social media .
it is well know the bias of media agianst Indians esp Hindus.
The more it circulates the better it is for Indians.

Re: Social Media Thread

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 3:32 pm
by Gus
done. my handle gus_brf